Printing roller



April 21, 1931. w. M. CONNELLY PRINTING ROLLER Filed July 9. 1928 zyzzm/mw "design; F1g'.i2 1s asectionalviewtakenalong line Patented Apr. 2 1, 1 931 WILLIAM MITCHELL OONNELGLY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS PRINTING ROLLER Application flled July 9,

My invention relates to printing rollers, particularly rollers of this character employed in the production of wall paper.

In the printing of wall paper the design of the paper is produced on a printing roller or rollers, one being employed for each color, and the paper printed by bringing it in contact with the roller in a manner similar to the usual printing eration. In

forming the designs on the rol ers it is customary to employ a metal roller of a diameter to properly accommodate the design to be used. The selected design is marked on to the face of the roller, and then the surface of the roller is routed out to leave the design in relief.upon the surface. This is a big improvement over the use of the old wooden rollers but is sometimes expensive since in certain designs the amount of rout- 9 ing required is very great and a great deal of work must be put into the making of the roller which greatly increases the cost. There are other objections to the use of this method andthe roller resulting from its use which are well known to those skilled in this art.

Accordinglyit is the principal object of my invention to provide an improved method for producing a wall paper printing roller.

Another object is to produce a better roller more economically.

Another object is to produce a metal roller wherein the-amount of routing required to produce a given design is greatly decreased. I

Other .objectsand features of the invention will be apparent froma consideration of the detailed description taken with the accomin drawings, wherein F g. ,1 is an elevational partly in section of, a roller made in accordance with H my nyentlon and having a conventional n Fig. 3-is a fragmentary view a roller b Lt-b ari a different design than that shown 1928. Serial No. 291,327.

I shall first refer to the structure of the roller as shown in the drawings.

The print roller comprises a permanent roller 10 and a shell 11 telescoped over the roller and secured thereon by suitable means, for example, solder 12. The shell bears a design which is shown on the drawings as lattice 13, this design being cut the full depth of the shell so thatthe roller 10 is seen throu h the desi n. The roller 10 is supported y av pair 0 heads 14-14 which receive the usual conical centering bushings 16. These bushings are slidably supported on a centering shaft 17 which is threaded and bears spacing nuts 1818 which force a the bushings into theapertures in the heads 14 so as to center the roller accurately.

In the production of this roller I preferably employ brass tubing for the roller 10 with cast iron heads 14 and ordinary hard type metal for the shell 13, although these.

materials can be modified very greatly within the scope of the appended claims.

In producing a roller of this type I maintain the roller 10 with its heads as a permaj nent memberand employ a different, shell I 11 for each design. 7 That is to say, the design is preserved on the roller preferably as long as it will be used; but when a design is obsolete I simply remove it from the roller, 'and the roller is then ready to receivea new shell bearin a new design.

In making a design I slip .an imperforate .shell over theroller and. secure it in place in any suitable manner. This can beaccompli shed by sweating it on, by soldering it, in'position as shown .inthe drawings, by ,boltin itin place, or in, fact in anysuitable way epend-ing, upon the specific materials used. 'When-",the shell is in position thedesign is drawn on the surface of the shell stances where this and then the shell is routed along the outline of the design. For example in producing the design of Fig. 1 the shell would be routed along the lines 21, 22, 23 and 24 thus forming a triangular design. In the present instance this design is repeated over the entire roller but a reference to the single position is suflicient for purposes of explanation. These lines are routed the full depth of the shell so that a portion of the shell of diamond shape would be lifted entirely out of the shell and thus save a greatamount of routing. This same practice is observed independent of the design and in this way relatively large sections of material may be removed from the shell with no routin required except along the margins thereo In producing some designs it is obvious that there will be unconnected or isolated sections thereof which if not secured to the roller in some separate manner. would fall off and so be separated from the desi n, in other words would not be effective or printing. Fi s. 3 and at show two ways in which these isolated or unconnected portions of the design may be secured in place.

In Fig. 3 I show a lattice like design the same as shown in Fig. l with the exception of a circular portion 26 between the lattices. In order to support this circular portion in position I provide a pair of tie pieces 27-27 which are left connecting the isolated portion of the desi n with the balance thereof, in the speci 0 form shown, connecting the circular portions 26 with the lattice design. These tie sections are routed below the surface to about one half the normal thickness of the shell.

In certain designs the arrangement of Fig. 3' is entirely satisfactory but there are inmethod cannot be emIplolyed with optimum results.

11 ig. 4 a design is shown in the form of diamond shaped portions with the s ace between them having the character 0 an open lattice, but the diamond shaped portions are not connected to each other when the shell is routed clear through as occurs in the making of the design. These porby Letters Patent of the United States is tions may be interconnected, however, by a non-printing tie piece as shown in Fig. 3, but for purposes of explanation I show it secured to the roller by screws 29-29. These screws have their heads arranged so as not to interfere with the design. With this arrangement it is not necessary to employ the tie sections, although they may be employed when forming the design and after the screws are put in position they may be removed. In addition to the screws or instead of them I may also employ solder around the edge of the design as shown at 12 in Fig. 1. I also may employ a small amount of solder wherever the nature of the design seems to require it, as for example where a design is not overly compact portions of the design may be strengthened by the use of solder.

When printing a solid design (in contradistinction to simple printing of outlines) it is often impossible to obtain the result desired with metal alone, and for this reason the use of a substitute material such as felt, which is a common material used for the purpose, may be resorted 'to. I show this arrangement in Fig. 5 wherein the design shows a tree branch 31 with leaves etc. 32. Assuming that the branch 31 is to be printed as a solid color I rout out the center of the design to leave relatively narrow outlines between which a felt filler 33 is inserted. In routing out the inside of the design the shell is preferably entirely cut through and the side walls are made exactly perpendicular and at exactly right angles to the surface of the roller to facilitate holding the filler in place. I may undercut these side walls also if desirable but I have found that better results are obtained bycutting them straight. The filler 33 is preferably felt, but other materials may be employed depending upon the result desired.'

When employing certain designs bearing a number of colors I am able to extend my improved method in such a way as to produce a number of rolls for printing the different colors practically as economically as the cost of one roller in the method heretofore racticed.

The eatures above described are dependent upon the particular character of the design and while they cannot be explained in detail for each design it is believed that the illustrative explanations here given will be sufiicient to permit anyone skilled in the art to practice the invention without difliculty. 1

Although I have shown and described a great many details of my invention it is obvious that I am not restricted to the particular form and materials described, and the invention is limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

WhatI claim as new and desire to protect 1. The method of producing a rintin roller which comprises sliding a cy indrica shell of relatively soft material over a cylindrical roller of relatively hard material, and forming printing designs on the shell by routing such shell along the outline of the design to the depth of the hard roller, so that the shell material between the design outlines may be lifted from the roller without routing. I

2. The method of producing a printing roller which comprises formin a roller ofrelatively hard material, selecting a cylinand havin drical shell of relatively softer material of a diameter toembrace the outside of the roller snugly, forming a design on said shell by routing along the outline of the design and entirely through the shell, and securing the designed shell to the roller in proper printing position.

3. The method of forming a printing roller which includes the employment of a shell roller, mounting said shell roller on a base roller leaving the contracting surfaces unattached to each other, and routing entirely through said shell roller along the outlines of a design so that areas of the shell roller not to be printed may be removed substantially intact from said shell.

4. The method of producing a printing roller which comprises forming a roller of relatively hard material, forming a cylindrical shell of a size to fit around the roller marking a design on the face of the shell, routing along the outlines of the design to remove non design shell sections in entire sections, routing out the internal part of the design so as to leave a narrow margin entirely around the same with openings in the center thereof, and inserting printing material in said center openings.

5. The method of producing a plurality of complementary wall paper printin rollers adapted to print different colors 0 a desi which comprises forming a number 0 rollers of relatively hard material equal in number to the number of colors, forming a shell of printing material, sliding. said shell onto one of the rollers, marking the design onto the surface of the shell, routing. through the shell along the outlines of the design to form the design upon the shell,

and removing portions of the design corresponding to the different colors and transferring said shell portion to the proper printing positions on the other rollers.

6. In a printing roller of the character described a cylindrical roller of hard duraof said rollers whereby said rollers are adapted for color printin 9. The method of proi iucing a printing roller which comprises forming a roller of durable self-supporting material, selecting a cylindrical shell of printing material of a diameter to embrace the outside of the roller snugly, forming a design on said shell by routing and entirely through the shell, and securing the designed shell to the roller in proper printing positions, an unconnected isolated section of the design being secured to the balance of the design by tie pieces formed of shell material with their outside surfaces partly routed to prevent their printing.

10. In a printing roller a permanent roller portion in cylindrical form, and a shell portion of a size to fit snugly around the permanent roller, said shell portion bearing a design and secured to the permanent roller, disconnected portions of the design being connected to the shell portion by dc sections thereo In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 9th day of June, 1928. 7

WILLIAM MITCHELL OONNELLY.

ble material and an outer shell of printing material unsecured between the contacting surfaces of the shell and cylinder and of small thickness, the sections thereof which are not required to be printed being routed entirely therefrom. I 7 In a printing roller a cylindrical roller with tapered heads inserted in the ends thereof to form a roller body, and a metal shell disposed on the outside of the roller a design formed thereon, the entire thic ess of the shell between the design being removed. I 8.,The method of producing printing rollers for color printing which consists of providing a pair of rollers of relatively hard material, mounting a shell roller of softer material ugion one of said rollers, removing portions 0 said shell roller and transferring and securing said portions upon the other along the outline of the design partially routed to prevent printing 

